Blue badge police again

[Rainburstflowers]

Name changes for this as I do every so often.
I have blue badge but my disability is not visible.
For the 3rs time in 2 weeks I have been challenged about not looking disabled and I am fed up of explaining myself

yesterday got out the car and this man came charging towards me shouting “oi you don’t have a blue badge”. I sighed and said “yes I do”. He then said “where did you nick that from?”
I said “I didn’t nick it from anyone I got it off eBay”
He then looked at me and said “oh right and walked off”
as if that was then ok!!!!
or it could be my built like a brick shithouse husband opened his door and got out the drivers seat.

I know I should not have said the eBay comment but I am fed up of explaining myself.

if anyone has any good comebacks please let me know

After 7 years with a degenerative condition I finally applied for PIP after putting off applying for about 4 years. The application process itself is extremely stressful and upsetting and then to be further interviewed - for two hours in my case - I was awarded PIP for the next 10 years. This included the full mobility entitlement which I have exchanged for a motability vehicle. I work and have worked since leaving school in 1989 so I am a taxpayer. If I could go back 7 years and not receive the diagnosis that I was given I would in a heartbeat. I just hope that neither you nor your loved ones find yourself in the position where you receive a life changing diagnosis and have to explain to someone everything from toileting, dressing, walking, cooking washing and the indignity that comes with that. But I can park my lovely new car where I like so that cancels all the crappy bits I suppose.

@Sally20099 I’ve reported your ridiculous ablist post. I am one of the “proper” disabled people, hope that’s ok with you?

You should say

"Well if you are so jealous I can help you look your version of disabled if you like and then you can get one yourself"

We have one due to our son having LD and having issues with compliance/needing to keep SN equipment in car. I'm sure we will get this shit too.

Took a long time and lots of documentation to get. It's not a quick blag.

The Free Car myth really upsets me. I just had to borrow £6k to pay upfront on my mobility car with adaptions, when I was healthy I would buy a second hand cars max £2k all in and own them. Now I pay a lot more to lease a car, just to keep me working!

That said i am incredibly grateful that the Mobility Scheme charity exists, just wish I was eligible for help with the upfront payment, but I am not.

Yes the “free car” thing is annoying. I had to sell my own car to fund ds’s downpayment. It hit me hard as I’ve never not owned a car since I passed my test and his rental is not as nice (though very new and shiny) and not mine and when the lease runs out it goes back and we will have to find another down payment. When your child is disabled so much of your own life is limited. Your career, your social life, your health, your privacy, your retirement, your ability to be there for those you love, it’s mind boggling that it’s all so invisible. Why would you make life even worse by confronting BB holders?

When will these people who spout rot about a free car, realise that it is being leased, and will have to be given back after 3 years. It cost the person leasing the car all, or the majority of their mobility element. It is a Godsend for many disabled people, who otherwise may struggle to leave the house, use public transport etc.

When karma teaches them maybe ? I hope they rise up sooner though and not go through this.

It just really boils down to a lack of empathy, and not having the living experience of being disabled, and all that can entail. If they did, or their loved ones were in that situation, then they would think differently, one would hope. It is sad how many people seem to not understand when they are spouting hate, that anyone could become disabled.

I was a disabilty outreach worker. I still find it so odd that when I talk to people about the mobility component of PIP they have no problem with it. But ask them about Motability and they immediately adopt the ‘free car’ position. So disabled people can have a mobility allowance but they can’t spend it on the most cost effective way of getting around - a car ? Trying to convince people that the mobility allowance has to be handed over for a car that will never belong to the claimant is very difficult, and I for one, think it’s rooted in jealousy. The question to ask is whether people would be happy to take on the disability that qualifies people for the scheme.

@Lovelysausagedogscrumpy I agree, sadly I think that it is just jealousy, at the heart of the disdain for people, who are able to access a vehicle from Motability. They don't seem to take into consideration the fact that a person has to be severely affected to be eligible, in the first place.

You’ll always be able to find someone who knows someone who ‘isn’t disabled enough’ to qualify for motability, and who will hold them up as an example as to how people ‘cheat’. In my twenty something years as a disability outreach worker, I never came across one claimant of the higher rate PIP/DLA mobility component who didn’t clearly qualify for it. And my advice to those who question eligibility will always be do you live with this person ? Do you know the intricate details of their disability and are you medically qualified to interpret their medical records ? Do you know the details of their PIP/DLA claim and are you privy to what transpired at their DWP interview ? Because if not, you’re in no position to sit in judgement.

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Problem is there are so many entitled AHs that park in disabled bays. Any workman’s , polices , delivery etc , waiting parents et all block disabled bays first .
If people were more considerate perhaps disabled people wouldn’t get so p….. off and ask

Totally agree. on Tuesday an AH stuck his car across 2 disabled bays. I pipped my horn at him and he wound his window down, said "I'm leaving", swore at me and called me a cxxt! Erm really? So a bloke plonking his car horizontally, not vertically, across 2 disabled bays is not in the wrong, I am? The driver behind me had her disabled mother with her so yep, we get annoyed at inconsiderate people funnily enough.

DP and I went to a small shopping centre yesterday. Lots of spaces in the car park were free, which was lucky because all the disabled bays were full.

Over half of those cars in the disabled bays were not displaying a blue badge. People just wanted to park right in front of the M&S food hall, where the disabled bays happen to be clustered, I presume.

This is the bit I do not understand. I was talking to DH about this today. Before my accident, when I drove the DCs to school we would park a street away and have a lovelt 5 min or so stroll to school as a lot of parent would park cars near as poss. - on corners, over drives, on zig zags, all sorts of nonsense. DH has not got a disability so will park at the far end of a supermarket car park so he has lots of space and the car will not get damaged by carless people opening their doors into his. Not precious about said car, just sensible. He doesn't have any issue walking a little bit. So who are these AHs who need to be right at the front doors of any establishment and why? Scratching heads here. Not meaning to derail the OP thread but surely the BB "police" would not need to poof into existance if we all behaved like rational human beings, no?

A friend of min, ex army, was recently challenged whilst I was with him.
The guy confronting him was not nice one bit, to rude to quote, but was going along the “not looking disabled, what’s wrong with you route.
My pal stayed silent the whole time until he locked the car then turned to him and sad.

”You know what mate, part of you agrees with you in a way, I was disabled during conflict, something I now regret, deeply. Because if I could see my time over again I wouldn’t be disabled as I certainly wouldn’t bother for ar**holes like you.”

Not another word was said from either party.

Many genuine Blue Badge holders don"t display them as they are scared that some AH will smash a window to steal the BB a lot of hassle and, even with insurance, a (to them) hefty chunk of their fixed income. I believe they can fetch a tidy sum on certain online sites. It's so prevalent in London that some Councils now issue a "companion badge" so that the real BB doesn't have to be displayed.

I think the issue is not so much challenging those who don’t display a badge, but challenging those who do because they ‘don’t look disabled enough’. Some people are just out for confrontation. I’ve been challenged before I’ve even turned off the engine on occasion, and on one memorable occasion my DH got out of the passenger seat to get my wheelchair and the woman switched from haranguing me, as the driver, to him. She was very apologetic when she realised her mistake but that doesn’t alter the fact that if someone is displaying a valid blue badge when they park, then it’s nobody’s business but their own.

I've just got my blue badge, I only have it for 2 years while I have some operations then it won't be renewed. I am dreading the blue badge police. I'm keeping crutches in the car just in case. I don't use them all the time, just on bad days.

It's just terrible, that you are already worrying about it, before you have even had your operation. The world would be a better place if others would stop interfering in other people's business. If you are approached do not engage with anyone , they can take a photo of your badge, it has an identification number on and let them report you, they won't get anywhere with it. By not engaging with them, it will keep you calm and let these nutters wind themselves up as much as they like. Hope all goes well with your up and coming surgery.

There will be many people who fall in between ‘No disability’ and ‘blue badge entitled’ who DO struggle with mobility, I used to be one of them. I’m sure lots of people thought me a right lazy cow when I would get as close to a place as humanly possible as a woman in my 20s and 30s but the truth was I was in agony most of the time, walking was very very difficult for any length of time, but I didn’t have enough PIP points for a blue badge and the assessment turned me down as I could walk a bit. But that didn’t mean I could walk for even 5-10 mins. Particularly uphill.

what I’m saying is, not all of those people who try to get as close as they can are arseholes.

BB police are a nightmare! I have only had 2 have a go at me but have had several glares and tuts because I can’t possibly be disabled in my 40s! 🙄 I was even filmed by a busy body a few months ago. Not sure why she continued as I was clearly limping when I went to the cash point. She even waited for me to come back so I waved and flashed my very large metal leg braces which were being hidden by a long skirt. That seemed to do the trick and she drove off! I’ve just had a knee replacement and it will be interesting to see if I still get looks when I’m mobile enough to go out with crutches or a frame!

Stop worrying, display it and go about your business - the badge is there to enable you to do that. The fact that it’s temporary while while you recover from surgery is irrelevant. My advice to anyone who is challenged is don’t engage. Most are just looking for confrontation so the trick is to deflate them. Don’t engage. Don’t explain. Just point to the badge, tell them it’s yours and it’s valid so if they have any problem with it they should take the serial number and report any concerns to the issuing authority - if they’re persistent tell them what they’re doing is harassment and you will call the police if they continue.

I have recently been awarded a blue badge. Sometimes I need a stick, often I’m ok going round the supermarket just with a trolley. My mobility varies depending on pain levels. I’m obviously old, so I’ve never been questioned. I do see cars in the disabled bays with no badge, that ticks me off. I also see cars with no children in them parking in spaces marked for parent and ‘small’ child. Personal entitlement has increased as personal responsibility has decreased. Sad.